Microsoft Virtual Server

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Microsoft Virtual Server
Original author(s)Connectix
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseSeptember 13, 2004; 19 years ago (2004-09-13)
Final release
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 / June 11, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-06-11)[1]
Operating systemWindows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista[1]
SuccessorHyper-V
TypeHypervisor
LicenseFreeware
Websitewww.microsoft.com/virtualserver/

Microsoft Virtual Server was a virtualization solution that facilitated the creation of

Virtual PC
is Microsoft's related desktop virtualization software package.

Virtual machines are created and managed through a Web-based interface that relies on Internet Information Services (IIS) or through a Windows client application tool called VMRCplus.

The last version using this name was Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1. New features in R2 SP1 include

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versions 9 and 10.[2]

Virtual Server has been discontinued and replaced by Hyper-V.

Differences from Virtual PC

  • VPC has multimedia support and Virtual Server does not (e.g. no sound driver support).
  • VPC uses a single thread whereas Virtual Server is multi-threaded.
  • VPC will install on Windows 7, but Virtual Server is restricted from install on NT 6.1 or higher operating systems i.e. Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
  • VPC is limited to 127GB .vhd (per IDE CHS specification), however Virtual Server can be made to access .vhd up to 2048GB (NTFS max file size).[3]

Version history

Microsoft acquired an unreleased Virtual Server from Connectix in February 2003. The initial release of Microsoft's Virtual Server, general availability, was announced on September 13, 2004.[4] Virtual Server 2005 was available in two editions: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard edition was limited to a maximum 4 processors for the host operating system while the Enterprise edition was not.

On 2006-04-03, Microsoft made Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition a free download,[5] in order to better compete with the free virtualization offerings from VMware and Xen, and discontinued the Standard Edition.[6] Microsoft Virtual Server R2 SP1 added support for both Intel VT (IVT) and AMD Virtualization (AMD-V).[7]

Limitations

Known limitations of Virtual Server, as of September 2007, include the following:

  • Will not install on Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 or newer operating systems. Upgrades from Vista/Server2008 can be patched.
  • Although Virtual Server 2005 R2 can run on hosts with x86-64 processors, it cannot run x64 guests that require x86-64 processors (guests cannot be 64-bit).[5]
  • It also makes use of SMP, but does not virtualize it (it does not allow guests to use more than 1 CPU each).[5]
  • Performance may suffer due to the way the instruction set is virtualized in this platform, with very limited direct interaction with the host hardware.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Download: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 - Enterprise Edition". Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  2. ^ Linux Guest Support for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
  3. ^ "Virtual hard disks".
  4. ^ "Virtual Server 2005". Microsoft Press Release. 2004-09-13. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  5. ^ a b c "Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Download Frequently Asked Questions". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  6. ^ Microsoft Virtual Server is now free
  7. ^ "Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Product Overview". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  8. ^ "Benchmarking VMware ESX Server 2.5 vs Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition". Virtualization Benchmark Review. 2006-04-19. Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  9. ^ "Benchmarking Microsoft Virtual Server 2005". Archived from the original on 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2009-06-16.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microsoft_Virtual_Server&oldid=1146635899"